Our attack last season was as poor as I’ve seen for many years at Wigan, probably since 2006ish when we were in a dire mess.

This season it was highlighted further after Lam’s claim he’d improve our attack.

Lam has so much to improve in 2020. So far I’m not convinced in the slightest.

I agree but there has been glimpses that for me show some promise. He simply has to deliver in 2020. The squad is there to compete and to challenge for trophies, and not wishing to paraphrase our current tool of a Prime Minister; no ifs, no buts and no excuses.

This season will be the acid test for Lam. It was always going to be a difficult year last year, Wane leaving was a massive shift in culture, that alone would make things difficult, then all the other factors were added in, injuries, off field incidents etc.

Like some I saw glimpses of what the team was trying to do we just didn’t do it on a consistent basis.

This year has seen a significant change in playing personnel which should suit Lam’s style a bit more. I suspect we will see a slow start as players bed in and will hopefully pick up as the season goes on.

I would agree with that and it sounds strange to be critical with us finishing 2nd and getting within 80mins of a Grand Final but that to me papered over some blindingly obvious cracks in our defence and attack. Irrespective of off field issues and some injuries I think we should have been better.

I also suspect a slow start, as most teams have anyway. That being said I don’t expect a start like last year which was at times diabolical. I expect improvement week on week and around the June time is where Lam should be judged on the season(s) he’s been here.

I think Lam inherited a very good team which was more than capable of winning and being competitive.
Edwards not coming etc was the best thing for Lam; it gave him a great excuse to use for when the team massively underperformed.

Look at it this way; if you’re a player who’s playing well and loving life under Lam you’d be ecstatic hearing Lam was staying on. No one on that team has any connection or relationship with Edwards; no one was effected by Edwards not arriving.
But that wasn’t the case. The fact is that we were playing poorly at times terrible in a very poor league which was even more highlighted with the void between Saints and the rest.

Correct. Thinking back whilst contributing to the team of the decade thread reminded me that a lot of the players I picked hit their peak around Maguires arrival in 2010. It can't have been a coincidence that so many of them hit career-best form when no one had been signed. Who can we say hit career-best form under Lam? Maybe Powell and some of the youngsters who you would naturally expect to improve with gametime. All established players apart from Powell were either the same or regressed, even Williams who Lam set his stall out right from the offset to improve.

If today's players are far more fitter and athletic then why do they need more substitutions than the less fitter players of yesteryear

Simple really;

They’re fitter and athletic to cope with the physical demands of the more intense, speedy and athletic game than in the 90’s. That increase in intensity and fitness demands means an increase in substitutions must follow.

I disagree, still 6 tackles, drives tackles etc, 10 metres, I think they manage their time wrong and go 100 percent at everything when its not needed like the wrestle in the tackle. In the 80 and 90's they hot them low and they hit them right so wasnt time to offload as much.

They don't need it. The fact is they're fitter, bigger, stronger, plus there's more subs. There's always fresh bodies with much better conditioning. Combine that with the fact the game is all full time, with all kinds of defence coaches, this is why there are far less gaps now. The game isn't what it was in the 90s, simply adopting a few runaround and drop offs and players running from deep isn't going revolutionise anything.

It is the same game in essence only and I disagree with your whole point. The game has evolved from 80’s/90’s/00’s - like all sports have. Our players are all full time (in SL and NRL anyway) which means they’re training anywhere from 6-8 times a week, possibly more. That means fitness levels will naturally increase in both cardiovascular and muscular fitness. That in its own evolved the game from a “few pints and pick of smokes after a game” to diet control and fitness control to try and ensure that when the 17 takes the field they are doing so in prime physical condition.

Moving away from fitness, the other side effect of training as often as they do is that tackle technique and offensive drills are developed into more complex and skilful aspects of the game. The tackle wrestle you rightly refer to has bits from RU and wrestling and is designed to slow down the oppositions play by controlling the ruck. Control the ruck, you control the speed of the game. Control the speed of the game and you put yourself in a position that it’s very difficult to be beaten. It may look simple but I assure you it’s far deeper that a tackle technique.

I get the yearning for yesteryear. Nostalgia is a fantastic feeling but the game has changed and moved on from 30/40yrs ago. If the sport wants to move forward globally and nationally we need to look forward, not look back constantly saying “back in my day” or words to that effect.

I think that the biggest change has been that all teams are over coached to the point that players are robotic with little if any room for individual play which leads to dour games.
Also for the number of interchanges has led to forward dominated thinking with again resulting poor quality games. For me once a player goes off he shouldn't be allowed to return which would rid the game of 15 minute "impact" players who more often than not are players who are way above their natural weight and find long minutes almost impossible.

Who says they "Need" more substitutes?
Thems just the rules
If we changed the rules to No substitutes thebplayets would adapt to that and have to pace themselves to those rules.

Simple fact is
Zero substitutions
10 substitutions
8 substitutions
Pr
6 substitutions (which is what I would go for)

Playing under any of the above the teams of today would murder the teams of yesteryear.
That's not to decry the players of yesteryear, quite the opposite, it's just tou can only be The player you were/are in the era you played in.
The players of yesteryear would have adapted etx in their own ways, and some would have made it and been a great today, some wouldn't.
And same could be said about players of today being transported back in time.
Some would adapt to the old ways, some wouldn't.

But the players of today are far far bigger, fitter, stronger etc etc as a whole that they were. They are also far more tactically amd technically astute as a whole than they were.

Going back and picking up recordings of moves that gregory/Edward's, Henry Paul/Connolly etc. etc did 20/30 years ago and think it would make us better now is as unrealistic as getting an Alex Murphy/Doug Laughton or whoever into coach us as they were great coaches, they were, in THEIR ERA.

Like it or not, if it were possible to physically lift the team of 1987/1995 up and drop them into today (and I am sure enforcer will tell me that if I think outside of the box then it could be possible) they would get beaten comfortably due to the advances in all the areas mentioned above.
That doesn't mean I think Tommy is a better scrum half than Greg or gildart is a better centre than gene miles or flower better than Platt. It's just the evolution of physical/tactical and technical abilities.

If the players of yesteryear had these benefits then they would undoubtedly be better than their current counterparts, but they didn't and the game has advanced so much (and not necessarily all of these are for the better).

I'm no Lam fan, but I suspect that's because he didn't realise the limitations of our halves last season. Then quickly realised when he got here and reverted to a Wane style of play, because that's all that would work.

We'll see this season.